A 23-day winter vacation to southern India

	Winter (December-January) three-week trip to South India
	This is a three-week trip to southern India, visiting the cleaner and more prosperous regions. It is an ideal trip for December-January.

Short Summary.

Day 1	Fly to India. It is likely to be a long flight. Typically a morning departure from the Midwest (taking the Chicago-Delhi flight) will get to India late the next day's evening.	Flight to Mumbai
Day 2	Day in Bombay (Mumbai). Jet lag will be an issue.	Mumbai
Day 3	2nd day in Bombay. Jet lag slowly decreasing.	Mumbai
Day 4	3rd day in Bombay.	Night train to Madgaon Junction (Goa)
Day 5	Day in Margaon and Panaji (Panjim)	Panjim, Goa
Day 6	Day to explore Old Goa and Panaji	Panjim, Goa
Day 7	Back to Margaon and then to Banaulim Beach	Benaulim, Goa
Day 8	Day at the beach	Benaulim, Goa
Day 9	Day at the beach and Margaon	Night train to Kochi, Kerela
Day 10	Day in Kochi and Fort Cochin	Kochi, Kerela
Day 11	Fort Cochin and surrounding area.	Kochi, Kerela
Day 12	See bird santuary and go to Munnar in the hills.	Munnar, Kerela
Day 13	Day in Munnar, among tea plantations.	Munnar, Kerela
Day 14	Go from Munnar to Kumily. Enjoy hills and forests.	Kumily, Kerela
Day 15	Day to explore the Periyar Wildlife Sanctuary.	Kumily, Kerela
Day 16	Day to see Kottayam and backwaters, then Alleppey.	Alappuzha (Alleppey), Kerela
Day 17	Day in Alleppey and at Alappuzha Beach, then a train ride to Trivandrum	Thiruvananthapuram, Kerela
Day 18	Day to see Trivandrum, then an evening fligh to Banalgore	Bangaluru, Karnataka
Day 19	Day to see Bangalore, then a train to Mysore in the evening.	Mysore, Karnataka
Day 20	Day in Mysore	Mysore, Karnataka
Day 21	Second day in Mysore, then a last night train ride.	Night train to Chennai
Day 22	Day in Chennai.	Chennai, Tamil Nadu
Day 23	Depart India with a flight from Chennai to home	Flight back to America
		Home

See our list of trips.

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Full Description

Day 1	Wednesday	Leave home and fly to India	Flight to Mumbai
Day 2	Thursday	Arrive in Bombay (Mumbai). You have nothing planned in particular this day because you will probably suffer from jet lag. It is also likely that you will arriev quite late at night, depending upon your route.	Mumbai
Day 3	Friday	As you begin to recover from jet lag, try to see the Chhatrapati Shivaji Museum (Prince of Wales Museum).	Mumbai
Day 4	Saturday	You have the whole day in Mumbai to do whatever you like and see sights. Your recovery from jet lag should be progressing nicely by this day. Take the Express train (#02133) that departs at 10:15 p.m. heading south. Get a sleeper (2A or 3A) and spend the night on this train	Night train to Madgaon Junction (Goa)
Day 5	Sunday	Arrive in Margoa in the morning some time between 8:20 a.m. (scheduled arrival) and 10:00 a.m. In Margoa see the market, visit the Church of the Holy Spirit, and have lunch. In the afternoon take a taxi or bus to Panjim (less than 35 km away).	Panjim, Goa
Day 6	Monday	This is a day with your base in Panjim. Take a day-trip to Old Goa to visit various churches and the Viceroy's Archway. Return to Panjim andvisit the Houses of Goa Museum.	Panjim, Goa
Day 7	Tuesday	Finish looking around Panaji (Panjim) and head back to Margoa, and then from there go 6km out west to the coast, and stay at Benaulim Beach	Benaulim, Goa
Day 8	Wednesday	A day at the beach in Goa.	Benaulim, Goa
Day 9	Thursday	Morning at the beach, and then after lunch get back to Margoa and be ready at the train station for the Mangala Lakshadweep Express (#12618), which will stop at 10:40 p.m., and take you along the west coast to Kerela, arriving in Kochi the next day at noon (if on time).	Night train to Kochi, Kerela
Day 10	Friday	You arrive in Kochi at noon, and can get settled at your guest house in Fort Cochin.	Kochi, Kerela
Day 11	Saturday	A day in Cochin (Kochi) and Fort Cochin.	Kochi, Kerela
Day 12	Sunday	Take a bus up to Thattekkad Bird Sanctuary and play there. Having finished that, continue up to Munnar, away to the east about 130 km from Kochi, although because the road winds through hills and you must go slightly off the road to visit Thattekkad, and then drive through highlands the ride should take about 4 hours total. So, with a four hour stop at Thattekkad and four hours of driving, it's best to leave Kochi in the morning, perhaps around 10:00 a.m.	Munnar, Kerela
Day 13	Monday	Hike and explore the hills and tea planations around Munnar.	Munnar, Kerela
Day 14	Tuesday	Go from Munnar to Kumily and Thekkady (110 km, about four hours of driving time, with busses departing at noon and 2:30 p.m.).	Kumily, Kerela
Day 15	Wednesday	Day to explore the Periyar Wildlife Sanctuary.	Kumily, Kerela
Day 16	Thursday	Take a bus (or drive) to Kottayam from Kumily (about 110 km, and four hours of driving time). In Kottayam hang around for a while and take a visit to the very old (thirteenth century) churches on the hill northwest of town (Valliapalli and Cheriapalli churches). When ready to continue, take a bus or ferry on to Alappuzha. The ferry is three hours, and possibly tedious, but very cheap. The bus ride would be faster (50 km, 90 minutes).	Alappuzha (Alleppey), Kerela
Day 17	Friday	Morning in Alappuzha. Afternoon take a bus ride to Thiruvananthapuram (about 4 hours). Or take a train (Netravati Express 16345) departing Alappuzha at 4:00 p.m., and arriving at Trivandtrum Central at 7:45 p.m.	Thiruvananthapuram, Kerela
Day 18	Saturday	Spend the day in Trivandrum, and go to the airprot around 3:00 for a 5:00 p.m. flight to Bangalore. The flight will take less than 2 hours.	Bangaluru, Karnataka
Day 19	Sunday	Spend the morning and early afternoon in Bangalore (Bangaluru). Take the 3:00 p.m. Tippu Express from Bangaluru to Mysore. Arrive in Mysore at 5:30 p.m.	Mysore, Karnataka
Day 20	Monday	Day in Mysore	Mysore, Karnataka
Day 21	Tuesday	A second day in Mysore. Take the night train (Kaveri Express 16221) departing Mysore at 8:15 p.m., arriving at Chennai Central at 7:20 a.m. Spend the day in Chennai.	Night train to Chennai
Day 22	Wednesday	Arrive at 7:20 a.m., and spend the day in Chennai.	Chennai, Tamil Nadu
Day 23	Thursday	Leave on a flight to America. The flights out of India tend to depart Delhi around midnight or 1:00 a.m. and arrive in America early morning the next day. So, it may be possible to fly to Delhi from Chennai with a morning flight, and go out to explore and see Delhi for seven or eight hours, returning to the airport in the evening for the late night flight to America. Otherwise, one can take an evening flight from Chennai to Delhi, and then have only a few hours in the Delhi airport.	Flight back to America
Day 24	Friday	Arriving in America early in the morning, one will probably be home in time for lunch. The weekend can be used to recover from jet lag so that by Monday a person would be ready for work.	Home

Costs. (Day, expense, Cost in 2011 U.S. Dollars, Cost in percent of median year-round full-time income)
(Thus 1,080 Myrfti is 10.8% of a median year-round full-time American income, while 230 Myrfti is 2.3% of median year-round full-time income. To convert costs into current dollars, simply multiply the costs in the far right column times the current median year-round full-time American income, and you'll have an idea of current costs. Otherwise, use a Consumer Price Inflation adjustment to 2011 with the dollar figures. The resulting cost estimates should be similar, at least if travel costs and incomes have matched inflation).
The two-person prices assume an adult couple sharing a bed, and the four-person costs assume a family of four with two children aged between 12 and 17.

Day 1	Open jaws tickets flying from the midwest to Bombay and then returning from Chennai will likely cost $2,025 in 2011	2 persons $4,050 4 persons $8,100	2 persons 863 4 persons 863